Presenting Taiven Lealofi Shum

I'm way past due on posting this (give me a break, I have a newborn, am in the process of moving, and my hubby is living in a different state) but it is nonetheless a very important and special event in our family. On March 28th, this handsome little guy joined us a few weeks back.

Of all our kids birth's Taiven's was definitely the most eventful of all. I went into deep detail in my personal journal so I'll try to keep it brief for all of you, but I'm horrible at that so it'll probably be long! Tuesday March 20th: Went in for my check-up was already dialated to a 3 (kinda freaked me out, worrying if Junior would make it for the birth) Had an induction scheduled for Aprl 4th (Tavita REALLY wanted him born on his birthday). Doctor then proceeded to tell me he was concerned because I had lost a pound and my stomach was measuring small. Thought it might be my placenta not fully functioning, wanted me to have a growth check ultra sound, if baby wasn't in at least 10th percentile, they would give Junior enough time to fly in then take the baby asap. (I was now totally and fully freaked otu) They then told me to come back on FRIDAY for my ultrasound. This lead to 4 days of extreme worry and lots of tears that my baby wasn't getting the nourishment he needed. If the baby ever went 10 minutes without moving I'd freak out thinking that he was in major distress or worse. I heard and read all sorts of horror stories about babies that died or nearly died as a result of the same condition. It was a HORRIBLE four days. Friday March 16th: Went in for growth-check. The tech took one look at me when I walked in and said she didn't see why the doctor was worried but checked me out anyway. Found out the baby was actually measuring a day ahead of schedule and his head had dropped. Thanks a lot Doc for making me go through misery for nothing! Next time you tell an expecting mother you are worried abouot their babies well being, send them in for an ultrasound THAT DAY! Next few days was spent scrambling to get ready for Junior's family to come, I had been too much of a basket case prior to even think about anything else. They came Monday evening which was wonderful. We hadn't seen them in 6 years and cousins got to meet for the first time (more on their trip later). All during Monday I kept feeling some pretty severe contractions but kept ignoring them hoping it was just Braxton Hicks. Tuesday March 27th: Went in for my weekly check and told them not to do an examination because I knew I was already progressing and didn't want them to trigger anything (had to hold on for 2 more days til Junior got here). Had an hour break and proceeded to a killer root canal. I had been trying to put it off hoping to do it after Taiven's arrival but both the dentist and the ob said not getting it done and risking the infection spreading to baby was more dangerous then getting it done so off I went. It took 2 1/2 hours (my tooth was "special" had and extra root and 2 extra canals all the roots were shaped like kickstands instead of straight down) with very little pain meds. Combine that with having to lay still on your back while 9 months preggo made for a VERY uncomfortable 2 1/2 hours. The endodontist kept having me take breaks and move around to make sure circulation wouldn't be cut off to baby. He said the whole ordeal was about as complicated as a root canal could get. I told him I don't do things any other way! Finally headed home to give Ross and Leanne (my incredible brother and sister in law) a break. Welcome to America, babysit my kids! Had an enjoyable remainder of the day hanging out getting to know their cute kids better. Spent the night planning out the rest of their trip. Had a lot of fun things planned, but little Taiven thought he'd mix things up a bit! Wednesday March 28th: Went to bed Tuesday night around midnight. Couldn't sleep due to the discomfort from my root canal. Then the indisgestion kicked in. Then around 2:00 am I started feeling contractions. Again kept ignoring them hoping they were Braxton Hicks (Junior was coming the next day, surely he could wait!) Contractions started getting more consistent. I was of very clear mind at this poing and was sure if I ate something the contractions would go away. Went down, ate a banana, and waited; and wouldn't you know, NOTHING! Those contractions just kept coming. So much for that plan. Finally at 5:20am I called Junior in tears to let him know I was in labor. My nerves were so shot at this poing I couldn't stop shaking (like horribly, could barely walk shaking). Took a shower, and it helped. Called my brothers Ryan and Tyler to come give me a blessing (SO grateful that I have priesthood holding brothers so close by). Junior called to say he found a flight and Jonathan was taking him to the airport. Woke up Leanne and Ross, yeah, you didn't watch my kids enough today, I'm now leaving them in your care indefinitely while I go have a baby. Aren't you glad you saved all that money to come tour America! They were saints about it and not only watched my kids but cleaned my house too! After the blessing I felt MUCH better and more at peace though still very on edge. Junior's Aunty Siiva offered to come sit with me unitl Junior got there. The two of us and Ryan loaded up in Ryan's car and we were off. By 6:45 I looked like this:

By 6:50 I looked like this:

That's right if you ever want an epidural FAST you just need to be a distraught basketcase explaining to the nurse that the man you have with you is in fact your brother not your husband and your husband is still in Arizona so they NEED to slow this labor down NOW! I had an epidural before I was even admitted! They told me the fact my water hadn't broken would be my saving grace. So long as that didn't happen, I just might be able to hold out (I have NEVER been so grateful my water doesn't brake on it's own, never has). They examined me once then said they weren't going to do anything more until Junior got there. Ryan then sped off to the hospital Aunty Siiva did a great job of keeping the conversation going so I could be as distracted as possible. At 9:40 one of the most beautiful sight I have ever seen came walking through the door:

I broke down in tears once again but they were tears of relief and gratitude. Despite all the family I had rallying around being so willing to help (and it was very much a joint effort by a lot of family as you can see) all I could think about was how much I wanted/needed Junior by my side. I needed his love, support and most of all I didn't want him to miss welcoming his little boy into the world. Now that Junior was there, I was geared up and ready to go. The doctor came in around 10:20 SHOCKED that Junior had made it. The fact that he was in the hospital room a mere 4hrs and 20min after getting a call from his frantic wife ws pretty impressive! Dr. Thorpe broke my water and things went pretty quick from there, made even more grateful my water didn't break on it's own because Junior would've missed it for sure. I think the epidural settled in my legs because they were COMPLETELY numb but I felt A LOT of pain and pressure during the final part of labor and the delivery (but hey, I didn't feel the shot they gave me in my leg post delivery one bit!). Dr. Reese came in 11:30 to deliver the baby, he too was shocked Junior was there. At 11:40 I started pushing and 3-4 mins (yeah, it was that fast) later Mr. Taiven Lealofi was here! If you can see that scale it says he was 7 lbs 8 oz (and that was coming 11 days early, so much for being in the 10th percentile!) and he was 18 in long. He was sooooo short. I loved when he was swaddled up because he looked so cute and compact.

Meeting my precious little boy for the 1st time (well 2nd, we hadn't gotten the camera out yet for the 1st. But it was my 1st time meeting him clean and recognizable!)

The birthing team sanz Dr. Reese, he had already left for another delivery!

See how cute and compact he looks!

I'm BAAAAAACCCCCKKKKK!

Ok, so it's been brought to my attention by several people that my blog has become severely neglected. One friend even asked for me to update as a Christmas present to her (Merry Christmas DEE!) So at last I have a long list of post to update you through Halloween. Fortunately we had a pretty uneventful November so it won't take long to get completely caught up.
Anyway, why have I been so absent you ask. Well, most of you know already but here are my two major excuses.
Reason #1

Ok, so this isn't OUR baby but I keep forgetting to have Junior take the ultrasound to work and scan it in. All babies look the same at this point so it'll have to do until Junior gets one up.
We're having a baby boy, due April 5th (the day after Vita's b-day, he's hoping and praying it comes on his birthday). Both the boys are very excited for a new brother. Kalei is pretty bummed she's not getting a sister but I'm sure she'll accept him when he comes.
Names being considered
Sister (Kalei)
Batman (Tavita)
Arrow (Tavita)
Skyler (Brayden)
Lafe (Mom and Dad)
Taivin (Mom and Dad)
This pregnancy has definitely been a tough one. I started feeling sick when I was only a few weeks along. The nausea/throwing up gets worse and worse with each one and it was a bugga this time around to say the least. In addition to the nausea I had intense migranes and a lot of pains I haven't had with the others. We had a little scare at the beginning that put me on brief bedrest but everything turned out fine and baby is healthy.
The Lord provided a tender mercy by allowing the me to feel the baby kicking very early on. It helped a lot when I was having the weird pains to know that baby was ok, I would've been a nervous wreck if not.
Things are good now, I started feeling better right around Halloween. I still have occasional migranes and a lot of pains all the time which is hard because I ran throughout my other pregnancies and haven't been able to with this one. I really miss having running as an outlet for stress but am glad that is the only real lingering issue I have.
Baby is VERY active, the most active one yet. For some reason #4 has me more scared then any other baby. It just seems a lot more overwhelming to me. In spite of that we are SOOOOO excited for this little guy to join our family. The kids talk about the baby all the time. The love pulling up my shirt and seeing how much bigger my belly has gotten.
Reason #2

That's right, we're taking a major plunge here and moving down to AZ and it has been much more of an emotional roller coaster then I ever expected. When we first moved here 5 years ago I was dying for ANY avenue out. I didn't like living in Utah, I didn't like the cold, I just wanted OUT! Fast forward 5 years and we have become very comfortable here. Out neighbors have become some of our closest friends. The kids have an almost idyllic situation when it comes to playmates. There isn't a day that goes by that there isn't a pack of kids running around and living on a cul-de-sac they have a pretty big range of play space. We love having the mountains so close by to take last minute day trips to. We love how family oriented it is here and the endless events and activities provided to families.
On a whim Junior applied for two jobs; one in Hawaii, one in Arizona. Both are places we have talked about returning to. Both came back with offers. Initially we thought we'd take the job in Hawaii, since we still ache to go back there even after being away for 5 years. However, it never felt right so Junior turned it down. When Arizona became a more viable option we started really fasting and praying about what we should do. It was a LONG decision process but in the end we decided it was the right thing to do. Even after all the praying and KNOWING it was right it took every bit of our self-control not to back out of the whole deal. We DID NOT want to go. We didn't want to leave our house, our nieghborhood, Junior's 5-min bike ride to work, the convience of having him come home everyday at 4:30 etc. Financially it didn't make sense either. The housing market is still so bad we are having to turn our house into a rental just to turn around and rent a house down in Arizona. The list of reasons to stay put goes on. In the end, it all boils down to the fact it feels right so we're going with it. Junior will be working for Phoenix Children's Hospital as their Clinical Analyst for cardiology. We're really excited for the opportunity. Junior said long ago that he would love to work for a children's hospital. Their cardiology department is new so he'll be their first analyst which gives him the chance to kinda do things his way as well as provides a lot of room for growth. Junior starts on Janurary 3rd but it's still up in the air when the rest of us will join him.
We are so excited for the new adventures that lie ahead of us. We're excited to be living by old friends and family. We're excited for no snow (ok, so maybe that's just me).

Anyway, all that matters is I'm back in action. Enjoy the myriad of posts below. I can sleep more restfully knowing that I'm caught up through Halloween. Now only November and a bit of December to go!

Halloween Festivities

Ok, so Halloween was about the time our camera went from somewhat broken to just about all the way broken (we got a new one on black Friday and our old camera became the kids prized possession). Here is a quick rundown of our festivities.
Halloween begins very early in our house. Tavita is slightly beyond obsessed with this holiday. Our decorations were up early, we did a lot of crafts, and had many a gatherings with friends. All of which I got little or no pictures of. Here are the few we did take/ stole from friends cameras.
One night we made candy corn buckets for decorations and had ghost milkshakes for desserts.

We had a pumpkin carving party with the Shorts, Halls, and Hoovers. Had yummy soup in bread bowls to kick off the night!

Then the pumpkins came out. The boys did pretty good this year at scraping their own pumpkins. Kalei just stared in hers saying "YUCKY!"

The kids soon lost interest and ran off to play. I slaved away carving while Junior took a nap. Ok, so really I traced a little of this pattern while Junior was carving another pumpkin. He is our master carver and carved all three pumpkins. Some freehand and some with a pattern. They turned out awesome but we totally forgot to light them on Halloween. OOOPPPS!

Wouldn't be Halloween without some yummy dirt n worms!

The Tuesday before Halloween we had our annual Halloween carnival. The kids love it. Their favorite is always the spook alley.

Finally the long awaited night arrived and we headed out for some serious trick-or-treating. Ok so I only tagged along for a handful of houses then headed back to hand out candy. However, while I was gone our street had around 60 trick-or-treaters. By the time I got back (which was still early) we were only getting one every 20 mins or so. I had a glorious 1 1/2 hours of snoozing on the couch handing out the occasional handful of candy.

We came back and the kids started in on their much anticpated free for all of their loot. This little girl DID NOT STOP from the minute the first candy hit her bucket until bedtime. It was crazy how much she put away. Candy become very limited after Halloween night so she might as well get it while she can.

For some reason Tavita felt the need to hide while eating his candy even though every other kid had a bucket to themselves so there weren't any prowlers.

Brayden didn't have too much interest in the candy. He was having more fun running around playing with friends. It's become a tradition for us to have a post-trick-or-treating gathering at our house. Everyone brings a non-sugary snack to try and counteract all the sugar intake. The kids run wild while us adults enjoy eachothers company and hand out candy. Trick-or-treaters love it because one house yields several houses worth of loot.

Jaker's Pumpkin Patch

One thing Utah does not have a shortage of is pumpkin patches. They are all over the place, offer all different activities and at all different prices. We've been to quite a few of them but one remains our favorite. It's not just because everything but the pumpkins are free (though that is a huge bonus), we love that it's so small and family friendly. There's a cute old man that runs it and the kids look forward to going all year long. They have haystack mazes, haystack mountains to climb on, a corn pit, petting zoo (all typical farm animals except a random kangaroo, made me laugh), hayrides, and of course PUMPKINS!
This little girly could've spent her whole time here. It was actually incredibly comfortable to lay down in!(and yes, she wears those two tutus ALL the time

Jumping for joy!

Getting ready for the hayride.

Every year we've gone to this patch, we have seen a flock of geese flying South.

The kids with their picks. It was totally by coincidence their pumpkin size coincided with their age.

We also took a trip to a 2nd patch with Tavita's preschool. They had fun, but like I said we all prefer Jakers.

My Baby Sister Got Married!

I still can't believe it.
When she was living with us a while back I thought it wierd when she'd ask to borrow the car because there was no way she was old enough to drive.
We dropped her off at BYU-I, and I felt like she didn't belong there either, I felt like I should still be there.
Then she started bringing this Ben fellow around. I thought that was really wierd. She definitely wasn't old enough to be talking marriage.
But she is! She found a great guy and we're so happy for both of them!
The wedding was great and the kids LOVED thier trip to Idaho. I don't know what it is about that place but it's magical for kids. It must be all the wide open space to just run. Kalei still asks all the time to "Go to Idaho, see Auntie and the Kittys" (Ben's family had a cute litter of kittens running around)
Can't go to Idaho and not pick some potatoes!

Cute kiddos waiting for the newlyweds to come out of the temple!

The happy couple!

Getting their cake ready. This is two sibling wedding in a row where I've been strutting by grubbies as everyone shows up for the reception. Oh well, the cake was ready just in time!

Head table

The dinner spread. Junior and I are definitely used to cooking for polynesians. There was A LOT of food leftover.

Smart couple, taking the time to eat!

LeiLei and her Grandpa!

These two got along 100x better than the last time they were together. It was so fun to watch them.

Cutting the cake! I was very glad the lights were dimmed cause that sucker had a lot of flaws.

Our ever-expanding family

The day after the wedding Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to one of Idaho's little secrets: BearWorld
I was feeling utterly exhausted and couldn't stop throwing up so Junior and I hung out at the hotel room while everyone else went and had fun. We were sad to miss out but man did we thouroughly enjoy those few hours of quiet!
Everyone crammed into our van to drive through and see all the animals!

With Auntie Jennica on a ride. We have a similar ride here and Brayden will have nothing to do with it. But these two seemed to enjoy it.

Getting kisses!

One good looking group!

On the way home Kalei started complaining her tummy hurt. We didn't have anything on hand in case she truly got sick so I hurried and grabbed the cake pan. Luckily she never used it. Now I can continue to bake cakes with peace of mind.

Daddy's 32nd birthday/ Summer Finale Fail Yet Success

So, shortly after school started we wanted to do a final summer outing. Just so happened to be a few days before Junior's birthday. The plan was for Junior to come home from work early, head to 7 Peaks (the waterpark) and party til the sun went down.
Well, went to 7 Peaks, it was closed. FAIL!
No worries, we figured we'd head over to the community pool. It was closed, FAIL
Ok, we'll just head over to the splash pad at the Riverwoods. All water was turned off so they could do some plumbing. FAIL
We decided to skip the swimming and head to a movie. There were no kid-friendly movies playing at the $1 theater (the only theaters we're willing to take kids to. Ahh, who am I kidding, the only place we're willing to take ourselves too as well.) so idea #4 FAIL!
We figured the day was a flop but then I remembered a fun little park I had spotted near the Riverwoods so we decided to check it out. It was a BEAUTIFUL park with two playgrounds, hills and best of all, a RIVER/STREAM! There were a few kids swimming in it, and the boys didn't hesitate to jump in and join. It was quite nippy but they had fun none the less. Kalei wasn't having it but she had fun playing at the park. Finally a SUCCESS!!!

That day also happened to be the day Junior's coupon for a free meal at Tucanos showed up (a yummy all you can eat Brazilian place). So after we spent a few hours swimming and playing we dried up, cleaned up, and headed back to the Riverwoods to eat. Not only do we enjoy eating here the kids LOVE it too. Combine the fact kids eat free with a birthday coupon and it's a steal. Whole family ate a feast for $20! I think Tucanos regretted the "kids eat free" policy with Brayden. He easily out ate Junior and I, he had the servers in shock. All 3 kids think their grilled pineapple is the greatest thing ever invented.
Junior and my highlight was watching the kids eat lemons.

The kids highlight of the night, having the servers come sing and dancing along.

We ended the night with a rented movie and popcorn. Overall we considered our Summer Finale to be a success!